Instacart desperately needed them not long ago. Now some workers say they are struggling to get orders

In the early days of the pandemic, as households around the country went into lockdown, shoppers for Instacart had a seemingly limitless amount of grocery orders to fulfill. Their earnings were, at times, bolstered significantly by generous tips in recognition of the personal health risk workers were taking.

But in recent weeks, some shoppers in markets across the country said they have gone hours or even days at a time without seeing many — or any — "batches," which can consist of one or a few orders from different customers, according to social media posts and conversations with five shoppers, each of whom joined the platform during the pandemic. The workers, who spoke with CNN Business on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, are now grappling with the sudden drop in orders surfaced to them and struggling to understand the reasons behind it without more information from the company.

"You're basically just wasting your time," said one worker, who shops in Atlanta. He said he recently sat for two hours outside the two major grocery stores he typically shops near his home without seeing a single order.